first post!

Hi everyone!

I have made it safely to Greece and have spent the past few weeks settling in, starting classes, and visiting different parts of the country. I miss everyone at home so much but I am very grateful to be here and I have been pretty comfortable. And thank God for FaceTime!

I am living in Athens in a neighborhood called Pangratti. I'm in an apartment with 4 of the sweetest roommates, including my roommate at Notre Dame, Kristen! Here is a pic of us in our apartment. Left to right is Petroula (from Chicago but her family is from Greece and she can speak the language!), Joy (from New Jersey), Mattie (from Wisconsin), and Kristen (from Colorado).

The apartment is pretty nice and upgraded. We have 3 bedrooms (Kristen and I are sharing a cute blue bedroom with 2 twin beds, 2 desks, 2 closets and a balcony), 1.5 bathrooms, a kitchen, and a living room. And working AC!!! Nothing beats living at home of course but it's pretty comfortable. Especially compared to the dorm life. Omg I don't know if I can go back to the tiny dorm room after experiencing an apartment. Fingers crossed that Kristen and I will get into an apartment-style living situation for 2nd semester through university housing.

Everything has been going well so far! All of us roommates get along super well and we are keeping the apartment clean. I was a little worried about getting 3 random roommates and having 5 girls to an apartment but I got super lucky with the girls I was paired with.

 A few other updates:

• I really like my professors and my classes have been interesting. This semester I am taking:

  • Sacred Flesh (Religion)

  • Business Ethics and Politics (Philosophy)

  • Ancient Greek Art and Architecture

  • Archeology in Greece

  • Culture of Modern Greece

    These classes fill my obligation to take non-major credits and it's been nice having a break from business classes.

• I have only been sick once (head cold), but I got medicine from the pharmacy (their medicine is great here) and my symptoms cleared up right away.

  
  

• I am still training for the Athens Marathon (the original marathon on November 10th). I was super unlucky and on my very first run here, I tripped over an uneven surface and rolled my ankle.

  
  

  Funny story: I was running on the sidewalks in Athens (terrible idea, the sidewalks are not flat) and tripped over an uneven surface by a cafe table (pictured below). This happened on the 2nd day I was here so I was still not completely familiar with my surroundings. After I tripped and rolled my ankle, I walked back to the apartment and iced it for a bit, then Kristen and I had to leave for class orientation. On our way to the school, we stopped for coffee. When the barista took our order, she said "Aw I'm sorry about your foot!" I had it taped up so I assumed she just noticed the wrap around my foot. I told her "Thank you, I rolled it on a run this morning". Then she replied "Yes I know I saw it outside the window this morning" LMAO. I guess I tripped right outside the same cafe we stopped at for coffee. And the best part is that the name of the cafe is "The Blind Spot". So ironic considering I tripped over an uneven spot that I didn't see. Fortunately it was not a bad sprain, and I was fully recovered after a week.